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Geraldine Monk
Geraldine Monk (born 1952) is an English poet.BEPC - Geraldine Monk Life Monk was born in Blackburn, Lancashire, into a working class family and raised as a Roman Catholic, something she believes has had an important effect on her work.- West House Books website - Geraldine monk, a mini-biography She was, she said, "Brought up with a parallel world of saints, angels, martyrs, the Holy Ghost and the Blessed Virgin Mary. No wonder I was so easily spooked. The ‘other world’ was a reality from birth. My Guardian Angel fighting it out with Mr Bogey-Bloke under my bed." She left Lancashire at the age of 18, and moved to Leeds. In 1974 she moved to Staithes, Yorkshire and began to write. The British Electronic Poetry Centre's entry for Geraldine Monk says: "1967 escaped school. 1969 escaped factories. 1974 escaped Leeds. Moved to Staithes, North Yorkshire for 10 years of 'splendid isolation', some very odd jobs and increasing preoccupation with reading and writing poetry." - British Electronic Poetry Centre In 1984 Monk moved to Sheffield, where she has lived ever since. Monk is married to the English artist and poet Alan Halsey. Monk and Halsey are, between them, proprietors of West House Books which has published and promoted a number of Monk's collections, as well as publishing the work of many other contemporary poets.- West House Books website - About Us Halsey has also provided visual art and book designs for several of Monk's books. Monk gained a B.A. with Honours in English Studies from Sheffield Hallam University in 1988, and between 1992 and 1995 was Visiting lecturer in Creative Writing & Communication Studies at Chesterfield College of Art. Between 1992 and 1999 she was Creative Writer at St. Luke's Hospice. Career Since the late 1970s, she has published many collections of poetry. Her first pamphlet appeared in 1974, self-published under the imprint of Siren Press. From the mid-seventies onwards, her work was published by various small publishers, including Bob Cobbing's Writers' Forum, and Peter Hodgkiss's Galloping Dog Press. From the start, and throughout her career, the importance of performance, and the sound of the spoken word has been a major part of Monk's poetry.Goode, 'Speak and Spell: Geraldine Monk's Voiceprint' in the Salt Companion to Geraldine Monk (Salt, 2003). ISBN 978-1-876857-74-5 She is regarded as an innovative, or experimental, poet.Nuttall, Preface to the Salt Companion to Geraldine Monk (Salt, 2003). ISBN 978-1-876857-74-5 Her work incorporates song, found text, and material drawn from such sources as childhood games Presley, '"Ring-a-Rosy" Girls' Games in the Poetry of Geraldine Monk' in the Salt Companion to Geraldine Monk (Salt, 2003). ISBN 978-1-876857-74-5 In 1994 she published the long poem 'Interregnum', which is an account of the ten men and women hanged for witchcraft at Pendle, Lancashire in 1612. 'Interregnum' includes themes of landscape,Tarlo 'Home-Hills: Place, Nature and Landscape in the Poetry of Geraldine Monk ' in the Salt Companion to Geraldine Monk (Salt, 2003). ISBN 978-1-876857-74-5 the relationship between the animal and human worlds, and patriarchal domination. The poem is seen as being in the tradition of political radicalism.[Sean Bonney, 'What the Tourists Never See: The Social Poetics of Geraldine Monk' in the Salt Companion to Geraldine Monk (Salt, 2003). ISBN 978-1-876857-74-5 Monk's most recent works, such as 'The Escafeld Hangings', continue one of her themes of women in history, focussing in that case, on Mary Queen of Scots. Monk has increasingly collaborated with musicians in her performances and recordings. Monk's pamphlet publications, or publications in other media, are often brought together into larger books, such as 'Noctivagations' (2001), a selected volume of work written since the mid-1990s.Stride Magazine - SUBSTANTIAL THOUGHTS: Review of 'Noctivagations' by Scott Thurston For example, 'Noctivagations' includes the sequence ‘Songings’ (the subject of Monk’s collaboration with Archer). This piece, according to Scott Thurston 'resonates with lyric moments of visionary power'. The volume 'Lobe Scarps & Finials', published in 2011 by Leafe Press is similarly a gathering of work published during the preceding period. This collection has been described as containing 'oppositions: between the individualism of lyric utterance and the political context in which it takes place; between the opacity produced by her densely-patterned sounds ... and a plain-spoken brusqueness'.Paul Batchelor, The Guardian, 15th July 2011 In 2003, Salt Publishing brought out Monk's 'Selected Poems', and in 2007 also published 'The Salt Companion to Geraldine Monk', a book of critical works on her poetry.- Salt Publishing author's page - Geraldine monk She has recorded her poetry in collaboration with musicians. She provided voice & words for the album Fluvium, collaborating with Martin Archer & Julie Tippetts. Electronics recorded at Telecottage, Sheffield, between January 2000 & March 2002, vocals & acoustic instruments recorded at The Sound Kitchen, Sheffield, between November 2001 and February 2002. The album is released by Discus Music (#discus14cd Recognition Monk's poetry has been published in many anthologies, most recently appearing in the Anthology of 20th Century British and Irish Poetry. She was awarded the Poetry Award at the Northern Writers' Awards in 2013.Geraldine Monk, Northern Writers Awards. Web, Dec. 19, 2014. Publications Poetry *''Scarlet Opening''. Siren Press, 1974.Geraldine Monk, Oxford Companion to Modern Poetry in English (edited by Jeremy Noel-Tod & Ian Hamilton), Oxford University Press, 2013, 420. Google Books, Web, Dec. 19, 2014. *''Invasion: Poems''. privately published, 1977. *''Long Wake''. London: Writers' Forum, 1979. *''Rotations''. Saltburn, North Yorkshire, UK: Siren Press, 1979. *''Banquet''. Saltburn, North Yorkshire, UK: Siren Press, 1980. *''Spreading the Cards''. Saltburn, North Yorkshire, UK: Siren Press, 1980. *''La Quinta del Sordo: Goya's 'Disparates'.'' London: Writers' Forum, 1980. *''Tiger Lilies''. Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK: Rivelin Press, 1982. *''Animal Crackers''. London: Writers' Forum, 1984. *''Herein Lie Tales of Two Inner Cities''. London: Writers' Forum, 1986. *''Sky Scrapers''. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Galloping Dog Press, 1985. *''Quadraversal''. London: Writers' Forum, 1990. *''Walks in a Daisy Chain''. Hebden Bridge, UK: Magenta, 1991. *''The Sway of Precious Demons: Selected poems''. Twickenham, Middlesex, UK: North & South, 1992. *''Interregnum''. London: Creation Books, 1993. *''Dream Drover''. Sheffield, UK: Grafton Street Irregular, 1999. *''Trilogy'' ("La Tormenta", "Prelude V", Prague Spring"). Gargoyle Editions, 2000. *''Noctivagations''. Sheffield, UK: West House Books, 2001. *''Insubstantial Thoughts on the Transubstantiation of the Text''. Sheffield, UK: West House Books, 2002. *''Marian Hangings''. Gargoyle Editions, 2002. *''Mary Through The Looking Glass''. Gargoyle Editions, 2002. *''Envelope''. Portland, OR: David Abel, 2002. *''Absent Friend''. Gargoyle Editions, 2002. *''Selected Poems. Cambridge, UK, & Applecross, W.A.: Salt, 2003. *''She Kept Birds. Somerville, MA: Slack Buddha Press, 2004. *''A Nocturnall Upon S. Lucies Day Being The Shortest Day''. Gargoyle Editions, 2004. *''Escafeld Hangings''. Sheffield, UK: West House Books, 2005. *''Raccoon''. Free Poetry, 2007. *''It Means Nothing to Me'' (with David Annwin). Sheffield, UK: West House Books, 2007. *''Ghost, and other sonnets''. Cambridge, UK: Salt, 2008. *''Skyscrapers''.Wendell, MA: Fewer & Further Press, 2010. *''Lobe Scarps & Finials''. Nottingham, UK: Leafe Press, 2011. *''Pendle Witch-Works''. Newton-le-Willows, UK: Knives Forks and Spoons Press, 2012. Non-fiction *''Cusp: Recollections of poetry in transition''. Bristol, UK: Shearsman Books, 2012. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Geraldine Monk, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Dec. 19, 2014. See also * List of British poets References External links ;Poems *[http://www.woodlandpattern.org/poems/geraldine_monk01.shtml from Ghost, and other sonnets] *"Decade Dance" *Inter-Capillary Space - A comprehensive list of links to online Monk poems, essays, reviews, recordings. ;Audio / video *Geraldine Monk at YouTube ;About *Geraldine Monk at West House Books *Geraldine Monk at the Centre for Creative Writing *The Salt Companion to Geraldine Monk ;Etc. *West House Books Category:English poets Category:1952 births Category:Living people Category:Women poets Category:English women writers Category:20th-century poets Category:20th-century women writers Category:21st-century poets Category:21st-century women writers Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Alumni of Sheffield Hallam University